Angela has provided another summary from the World Congress of Families! This is a presentation by Dr. Ted Baehr, founder and publisher of Movieguide, and Chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission.

Producer of the new family friendly movie: Return to the Hiding Place

• In order to help the next generation, we need to learn how to tell stories. What do I mean by this? I mean that we have to tell the greatest stories the world has ever known in order to change the heart and change lives. We need to get away from speaking with our heads to the next generation and move to speaking with our hearts. This is what will help them understand values and morals.
• We’ve had enough studies to show that media is harmful to children! It’s so obvious. Yet Hollywood will say that the media doesn’t influence our children. Try telling this to your politicians during election season and see if they will stop advertising their campaign. Media choices do matter and we need to protect our families.
• Every culture has a litmus test. For us today, it is the family and how well we protect and defend it.
• “Return to the Hiding Place”  is a story about teenagers in the Nazi resistance movement. The children and youth were in the resistance! They sacrificed tremendously and were willing to give their lives so that total strangers could live. As a culture, we are starving for these types of good, noble heroes. This movie is a prime example of how the heroes just so happen to be Christians who lead a revolution to change the world in Nazi Germany. Why are these types of stories important to the rising generation? The end result is that they come away thinking, “I want to be like that.”
• Dr. Baehr remembers speaking to a Holocaust survivor about the seemingly overwhelming odds against them and compared it to the fight for the family today. This man said that in the USA, we think we need 51% to win the fight for the family in the polls. However, only 5% of the people joined the Nazis and 90% sat back in an apathetic way to just watch and see what would happen. However, there were another 5% who were willing to persevere and not quit. IN these moral fights, this is who will win. The 5% can help influence the apathetic 90% and win. Don’t be apathetic and just sit back. Do something!
• Speak to the mind to win an argument. Speak to the heart to win a soul.

1. Remember that the good movies actually always do better at the box office. Support the family friendly movies and disengage completely from the trash that is out there. Note that not everything is bad out there and as Christian movie producers, we are doing the best we can to get our message out to Hollywood that good movies sell better than bad ones. It is working!
2. Know that what you do right now shapes and builds the next generation. The question you need to ask yourself is: Do I care enough? Remember, you can change the world by changing the media you use in your family.
3. We are facing a tsunami against our values. We need to have courage to face this and we will win because we have God on our side. Emulate the Savior’s family in your home. Show His virtues, his mother and father’s virtues and emulate them in your own home. This will require studying and we need to put this into our hearts, not only our heads.
4. Finally, you need to show PUBLICLY what you believe. This is the KEY in tackling the tsunami that is hitting the family from all angles. Don’t be afraid to go public in social media about your beliefs. Protect the family and please stand up. You can change the world one person at a time. Believe in your ability to stand up for truth.

One of my favorite books is The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. We have also seen the movie by the same name. I can’t wait to see Return to the Hiding Place and learn more about those who helped the Ten Boom family hide over 800 Jews during WWII.